Apply To Be the Next Shiner Rising Star; New Grant Jones Song

For fans of country music here in North Texas, it's hard to imagine hitting the various bars and honky-tonks of our fine area without stumbling upon performances from folks such as Somebody's Darling, The Will Callers or Grant Jones & The Pistol Grip Lassos.

Aside from being among the area's brightest country names, they all share another key distinction: they have each been crowned champion of the annual Shiner Rising Star contest.

If you're a band that wants to join the aforementioned names of triumphant acts, there's still some time to enter, but not much. The original deadline for entry has been extended to Wednesday, July 20, at noon.

What started out as a quaint partnership between Joshua Jones of Texas' Radio Station of the Year, KHYI 95.3 The Range, and Shiner Bock Beer has blossomed into a legitimate avenue for aspiring bands to not only get there name out into the honky-tonk-o-sphere, but to really be given some tremendous advantages that could take years for many bands to compile, if ever.

In past years, the winning act has been placed onto some sweet KHYI-staged concert bills and big Shiner Bock-sponsored stages, and given the opportunity to record their Shiner album with the likes of Ray Wylie Hubbard, Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen) and Dan Baird (Chris Knight, Georgia Satellites) sitting in the producer's chair. All this with national distribution waiting once the album is completed. This year, the pot has been sweetened with a new Kona Guitar and a full set of drums, courtesy of GP Percussion.

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Even better, the deadline for entry has been extended a couple of days, to make sure that any band looking to score has their shot into the game. Go to KHYI's website to apply and to get more details.

To celebrate the oncoming of the 13 week season that is the Shiner Rising Star competition, we've got an extra treat for all of our DC9 at Night readers. 2009 Shiner Rising Star champ, Grant Jones & The Pistol Grip Lassos are currently in the studio working on their follow up album.

One of the tunes that will likely end up on the next album is the rocking, heart-breaking "Amphetamine." While not an official single, this is an amped up example of where Jones may be looking to go with this next release. He and the Pistol Grip Lassos recently laid this track down live at Tomcast Studios and have graciously given it to us to give to you.